Jeff Coffey (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the bassist and background vocalist for

Don Felder Donald William Felder (born September 21, 1947) is an American musician who was the lead guitarist of the rock band Eagles from 1974 until his termination from the band in 2001. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 with th ...

. From 2016–18, he was bassist and lead vocalist for the band

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Early career

Coffey grew up in

Eustis, Florida Eustis is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,189 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area. Eustis High School is the town's local public high scho ...

in the

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

area, and attended

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

where he traveled with their jazz band to perform at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival w ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. He spent much of the 1990s in the

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

-based band House of Dreams, which released a self-titled CD in 1994. In 2007, Coffey released his second CD ''Long Way Home''. From 2011–14, Coffey took a hiatus from music to focus on family and life. He returned to music on New Year's Eve 2014.

Chicago

In Spring 2016, Coffey received a call from Chicago guitarist

Keith Howland Keith Howland (born August 14, 1964) is an American guitarist and singer. He was the lead guitarist for the veteran pop-rock band Chicago from 1995-2021. Howland started playing the guitar at the age of seven, and he played in a number of band ...

asking if he would be interested in auditioning to fill in for longtime bassist/vocalist

Jason Scheff Jason Randolph Scheff (born April 16, 1962) is an American bassist, singer, and songwriter. From 1985 to 2016, he was the bassist and one of the lead vocalists for the rock band Chicago; he is the longest-serving member in the bassist/vocalist p ...

. Coffey auditioned and won the gig, making his debut on May 21, 2016, in Findlay, Ohio at a private event. His first public performance with Chicago was the following day, May 22, 2016, also in Findlay, Ohio. Following Scheff's departure in October 2016, Coffey became an official member of the band. The announcement welcoming Coffey was made via Chicago's official Facebook page on October 25, 2016. Although joining the band after the production of their

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

documentary ''Now More than Ever'', he was included in pre-broadcast interviews with the band featured on CNN in which he described the impact and legacy of Chicago's music. On January 19, 2018, Coffey announced his resignation from the band.

Post-Chicago career

On February 27, 2018, Coffey released a new single titled "Got To Get Away". Jeff also announced via

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

on April 15, 2018 that he would be touring as a bassist with Don Felder, formerly of

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

. Following his departure, Chicago and Rhino Records released 2 live CD/DVD combos, ''Chicago II: Live on Soundstage and Chicago: Greatest Hits Live,'' both recorded in November 2017 for the PBS show Soundstage and aired nationally over PBS stations in the summer of 2018. In early 2019, Coffey crowd-sourced funding for his new album of classic covers, "Origins-Vocalists and the Songs That Made Me" which will be released in late 2019 by Jetpack Label Group. Ahead of its release, Coffey released music videos for "Back On My Feet Again" (recorded by

The Babys The Babys are a British rock group best known for their songs " Isn't It Time" and "Every Time I Think of You". Both songs were composed by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy, and each reached No. 13 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 8 on the ...

) and "I Can't Make You Love Me" (originally by

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

) the latter which features

Michael Omartian Michael Omartian (born November 26, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, keyboardist, and music producer. He produced number-one records in three consecutive decades. He has earned 11 Grammy Awards nominations and won three. He sp ...

on production and piano. Also among the guest musicians include former

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

bandmate

Tris Imboden Gregory Tristan "Tris" Imboden (born July 27, 1951) is an American rock and jazz drummer. As a performer, he has been in studio sessions and on tour with some of the most notable and highest-selling musicians of all time. He was the drummer fo ...

covering a

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...

song that Imboden performed on the original recording and Chris Rodriguez, current member of

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera ( ; born September 13, 1944) is an American retired musician best known for being a lead vocalist and the bassist of the rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985, before launching a successful solo career. His c ...

's touring band.

Discography

* 1994: ''House of Dreams'' (with House of Dreams) * 2003: ''Jeff Coffey'' * 2007: ''Long Way Home'' * 2018: ''Got To Get Away'' (Digital Single) * 2018: ''Chicago II On Soundstage'' (With Chicago) * 2018: ''Greatest Hits Live'' (With Chicago) * 2019: ''Origins – Vocalists And The Songs That Made Me'' *2019: I Can't Make You Love Me (Digital Single) Jetpack Label Group * 2021: This Time Around

References

External links

Jeff Coffey
official website
Chicago official websiteJeff Coffey: Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffey, Jeff 1967 births Living people 21st-century American male musicians American male bass guitarists American male pop singers American male singer-songwriters American rock bass guitarists American rock singers American rock songwriters American tenors Guitarists from Florida Musicians from Orlando, Florida Chicago (band) members Singer-songwriters from Florida